Night Before the Wedding
by wickedswanz
Summary: The night before Bill's wedding Hermione and Charlie discover something new. Set in the beginning of Book seven.


* * *

Hermione's first kiss was everything a romantic first kiss should have been; tender, sweet, passionate and tragic. Wonderful.

The night air was crisp and fresh, she always loved the smell of freshly cut grass in the evening. Hermione was sitting on the back porch, swinging gently back and forth on the old hanging chair and wondering absently how long it had been there. She smiled imagining Arthur's excitement hanging it by hand. She imagined the boys fighting over who got to sit in it and how long before the next had a turn… Now it was left out here, hidden and abandoned.

She heard the scream from the upstairs bedroom and looked around just in time to see Charlie come running out. His hands were covering his suddenly very short hair and he was hopping from foot to foot.

"It's gone - She cut it - It's gone - gone, gone, gone!"

Hermione was quick to relinquish the chair and run to his side. "Charlie! What's gone, what's the matter?"

He swung around, eyes blazing and she was shocked by just how large he was. A simple black shirt covered his wide chest and barely concealed what looked like well maintained torso. His strong muscular arms were over his head and Hermione couldn't help but stare at all those freckles. Something about freckles and muscles made her feel funny, kind of tingly but she forced it back.

"Charlie?"

"Well look, woman!" He cried in what sounded like pain. "That witch cut it! She cut off all my hair!"

Hermione jumped back at his words. No one had ever called her a woman before. Slowly the rest of what he said trickled in and she grinned up at the largest Weasley.

"Well, Charlie it was a bit unruly - And it is your brother's wedding tomorrow."

He threw her an incredulous look. "You are kidding? Granger is telling me off for unruly hair?"

She let out a shocked cry and turned on her heel. "Fine! If you don't want my help..."

She made it five steps before the large, freckled hand encircled her wrist and forced her to stop. Turning her head to look back at him, Hermione felt her stomach flutter at his contrite expression.

"I'm sorry," he said almost too quietly to hear. "Will you help me?"

Her smile was bright with triumph and something else, but she ignored that and nodded. "Come on."

Their hands joined and again Hermione had to ignore the excited twinge. She led the way and together they snuck back into the house, down into the basement. Pulling her wand Hermione whispered a reveal charm and Charlie's eyes widened on the door that appeared in the dark back corner.

"Where the hell did that come from?" he whispered.

"I'll give you three guesses," she replied and gave him a mischievous grin.

Inside Charlie couldn't seem to get enough of Fred and George' hidden potion's lab. He touched this, shook his head at that. "Mom would blow an artery if she knew this was here."

Hermione was busy looking through the potions. She pulled three off the shelf and grabbed a cauldron from the cupboard. "They don't use this place anymore since they have their own lab at the back of their shop."

"And why would they share this little secret with you?" He arched a single eyebrow at her.

Ignoring the implication, she turned away to hide the blush stealing up her cheeks. "Don't even think it, Charlie Weasley." She brought everything to the long clean table in the middle of the room and laid it all out neatly. "Back in fifth year they were testing their potions on students and showed me their secret to prove that they were indeed serious and capable of brewing potions without killing anyone."

She mixed and heated then circled her wand three times clockwise, once anticlockwise and whispered the incantation to grow back hair.

"Drink." She held out a beaker filled with the potion. "I think your mother's issue was more with the unruliness more then the length, so lets grow it back then I'll give you a trim and tie it back from your face."

Charlie looked at the potion then back at her. He sniffed it and made a disgusted face then looked at her suspiciously again. With a huff he held his nose between two fingers and gulped down the potion in one long swallow.

"How do you feel?"

Charlie thought for a moment, tipped his head one way then the other. "I feel a bit fuzzy. Kinda tingly." Then he grinned at her, his expression one of pure cocky charm. "Admit it, witch, you made a naughty love potion and lured me down here to… Ooh…" He closed his eyes and Hermione's breath caught at the look of pure ecstasy that took hold of his face.

He moaned again and closed his, suddenly very dark blue, eyes, his head dropping and his teeth sinking into his lower lip. "Merlin that feels good…"

Hermione's toes curled at the sound of Charlie's blissful moans. She'd never heard anything so thrilling, so sexy. Once she had accidently walked past the door while Ron had been masturbating - But he had sounded nothing like this. Charlie was no teenage boy, taking quick pleasure, he was a man and they were alone in a hidden room.

Stop that! She scolded herself silently; it's just a side effect of the hair growth potion.

And before her eyes she watched as his lustrous red hair flowed down his shoulders till it was the length it was before. Funny she'd never really noticed just how thick and silky his hair was. His hands were still gripping the table and he let out a final lengthy groan that shot heat right down her spine and settled molten and heavy in her lower belly.

"Bloody hell," he gasped.

Hermione held up the mirror to hide her flushing cheeks. "Look," she let out a triumphant squeak.

After, she busied herself with the scissors and a dark blue scarf until he looked more presentable, at least for Molly's eyes then showed him the mirror again.

Charlie took the mirror and moved more into the light. His fingers brushed hers and she was quick to pull away, again making moves of putting all the items away to hide how jittery she was.

Charlie looked good. No good was the wrong word. He looked delicious. All tall and broad, his shimmering red hair tied neatly, leather pants hugging long, thick thighs. Oh Merlin, Hermione was developing a serious crush on her almost-boyfriend's older brother. Not good.

"Hermione, you're incredible," he rasped, smiling at her so brightly it seemed to light up the dim candlelit room.

And before she could say anything he dropped the mirror onto the bench and swept her into his arms. He twirled her around, his hands large and strong on her waist then set her down and kissed her.

His mouth was on hers before she had time to breath, before she had time to think. All logic flew out the nonexistent window and her world exploded around them under his kiss. Warm and wet. Hermione parted her lips to gasp and Charlie took her invitation to deepen the kiss. His hands slid from her waist up to her arms and upwards, to caress her shoulders, her throat and finally to cup her face.

This was no quick, unsure kiss she had been expecting her first to be. Charlie was no teenager. That thought hit hard again. Charlie was a man who knew what he wanted and how to get it, giving his all as he did. Gently he tipped her face, molding her to deepen the kiss. His tongue slid inside her mouth in one sensual flick and Hermione moaned and returned the move. Her body flooded with something new and wonderful, desire, lust, wanton need to touch and be touched; not just by anyone but by him, by Charlie Weasley.

Oh Merlin!

The world slammed home for them both at the same moment. This was wrong. Sure she was of age but she was also almost dating his brother and they both knew it.

"Fuck… Shit… Damn…" he muttered and pulled away. "Fu… Damn, Hermione. Merlin I'm so sorry."

"No, Charlie It was my fault." She pulled back a little but not far. Her brain might not have been working quite right at this point but she knew that she didn't want this to end. Not yet.

"Of course it's bloody my fault!" He dropped his hands. "You're just a kid for Merlin's sake."

SLAP

She gasped - shocked by what she'd done. Her hand hurt and tingled from where it had slapped him and his cheek was glowing red.

"Go to hell Charlie!" She yelled and stormed out leaving the second oldest Weasley alone in the hidden potions lab.


End file.
